Forward Progress, It Seems

First of all, let me start by stating that I am no saint, philanthropist, or anything like that. I am a man with a dream; a little late in life, yet still a dream. Had I known about all this and had this passion 25 years ago, things would be a lot different. Yet, like most of my generation, we look at everything as it is now and simply say — it is what it is.

I have a CT scan tomorrow, with a hopefully great prognosis the day after. No coffee in the morning though, so that sucks! Regardless of all that, the past day or so has been spent finally talking to my county Community Garden Liaison, and she has hooked me up with the county coordinator for the Incubator Farm program. And yes, my local County Extension office does have a seed bank, loaner equipment, and more resources than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Of course, my little chunk of land here does not qualify for everything, yet at the same time, I do qualify for some things. I have also been in touch with the United Way here, and they have clubs (groups, whatever) that will come and offer free labor from time to time, as needed. They usually work through a church organization around here. I would urge everyone that can to volunteer with any of these in your area, and I would encourage others to use the resources that are available. Hope you are reading this, Jennifer and Charlotte.

For all of these, any financial outlay is of course my responsibility. At the same time, the bang for the buck is immeasurable. My place is too small to justify the overall cost (just a few thousand around here) for a small tractor (think Ford N red belly), yet there is enough land that doing it by hand is all but impossible when it is just one person. Regardless of the effort, the skill level, or the desire, one person can only do so much. Yet having access to such equipment, even for a few hours a month, or even a year, could easily make all the difference in the world.

Fortunately for me, I do have some in-laws that will be moving in here, and both of them seem to be more than slightly interested in helping this whole thing come to fruition. My plan, their sweat equity — even now I have to smile at that irony. I am also looking at various Garden Planning programs, which will help those coming in to help me. What I have now is all in my head; not a real good place to keep such plans, I know. If anyone can shed some light on plans that they have used, tried, and like, I would love to hear from you.